Suddenly Australians have become obsessed with freedom, particularly ‘freedom of speech’. For that we can thank the Prime Minister who decided to repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act which makes it unlawful to ‘offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate… [someone] because of their race, religion or ethnicity’. To the extreme Left, this is living proof that Australia is one of the most racist countries in the world deserving universal condemnation for its widespread denial of basic human rights.

If you believe that load of old cobblers, you really do need counselling. For this we can thank Andrew Bolt, who drew attention to this unnecessary legislation, and was found guilty by the courts. Most people then realised that almost anything we said could be branded as racist. The removal of 18C, the lawyers told us, would enable a great deal more ‘freedom of speech’ while still providing protection against preaching racial hatred and inciting violence.

What concerns me is the continual assertions by sections of the Left that Australia is a racist country that cares little for basic human rights and civil liberties. They haven’t changed since Federation. They show their self-hatred of Australia by continually referring back to the White Australia Policy, ‘blackbirding’ of South Pacific islanders in the 19th century and our treatment of Aborigines since the 1967 referendum when over 90 per cent of Australians voted to give Aborigines a ‘fair go’.

Of course, there is racism in Australia, as there is in every country, but as a member of a group that has suffered discrimination more than most I can assure you Australia is one of the least racist countries in the world.

Huge advances have occurred since the referendum although we still have a long way to go. It’s healthy that Australia is criticised for our failure to eliminate all forms of racism, but why aren’t ‘progressives’ more critical of those countries that are light years behind Australia in giving their citizens real freedom?

Those who are most critical of Australia say little or nothing of the horrendous abuses of human rights in the rest of the world. This became obvious during the very intense debate surrounding illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. Those with reservations about how many should be admitted were immediately branded racists. Their only answer to the question of numbers was, ‘We must show more compassion’. They conveniently ignore the fact that Australia allows around 200,000 migrants and 20,000 refugees annually. Could we take more? Of course, particularly if we ignore the fact that 85 per cent of Australia is uninhabitable and we would totally change the culture of a country that has admitted 7.6 million migrants and 800,000 refugees since the second world war. I like Australia as it is although, like most Australians, I have welcomed people from almost every country in the world.

However, I would like them to accept the culture that has evolved and allow the changes to evolve gradually. There are too many countries that do not enjoy basic human rights and civil liberties. Those who have come from countries where they were denied basic human rights should be told we don’t want them to migrate to Australia to recreate the monstrous regimes they escaped from.

All my life I have preached that assimilation and integration should be part of our creed. Being granted permanent citizenship should also include adopting the existing laws, culture and basic freedoms enjoyed by those countries that have been recognised by Freedom House as genuinely free. Those unfamiliar with Freedom House should know that it was formed in 1941 with two of its leading lights being the then president’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, and her husband’s opponent in the 1940 presidential election, the Republican Wendell Willkie.

Freedom House has a team of experts who monitor basic freedoms in every one of the 195 UN member nations and 17 territories of the United Nations. ‘Each country is assigned two numerical ratings from 1 to 7 for political rights and civil liberties… The averages of a country or territories whether it is free, partly free or not free.’ What is depressing is that after the fall of communism quite a number of these countries have regressed. As Freedom House reports: ‘Fifty four registered a decline as opposed to 40 where gains took place. The year was also noticeable for the growing list of countries beset by murderous civil wars or relentless terrorist campaigns.’

The Arab Spring raised hopes that the area with the worst record of repression and the denial of human rights — the Middle East — would follow the pattern of expansion of democracy in the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, centuries of repression guaranteed that countries with no history of granting civil liberties would suddenly become democratic. After a promising start they fell back into their old ways.

Wikipedia estimates that almost 200,000 are reported to have died since the Arab Spring erupted in 2010. Most were killed in countries that can hardly be classified as genuine liberal democracies. Almost all Middle Eastern countries have suffered some losses. It’s too early to tell if the Arab Spring will usher in a outbreak of freedom and democracy. At the moment it appears to be standing still or going backwards.

In the meantime, it might be a good idea if those who market themselves as ‘progressives’ concentrate on talking to the countries that are hardly democracies and cease to allow them to use the United Nations, the International Parliamentary Union and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association to use their organisations to promote their latest dictatorship. They should not gain respectability by association. Having a chat with the only country that is rated genuinely free in the Middle East, Israel, would be a good start. It would be better than wasting their time chatting to Bob Carr or Gareth Evans. What a pity those two didn’t limit their abuse to Syria, Libya and Egypt.